Virology
TWiV 437: Kathy’s new spindle virus
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
The TWiVsters reveal new giant viruses that argue against a fourth domain of life, and discovery of viruses in the oceanic basement. You can find TWiV #437 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 437 (63 MB .mp3, 104 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV!
Viruses under the sea
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology, Information
Viruses infect every living organism on the planet, but not every habitat has been explored for their presence. The igneous ocean crust had not yet been examined for viruses, but seek and ye shall find: there are plenty of viruses under the seas. The oceanic basement is an enormous ecosystem that lies at the bottom of …
TWiV 436: Virology above Cayuga’s waters
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
At Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Vincent speaks with Susan, Colin, and Gary about the work of their laboratories on parvoviruses, influenza viruses, and coronaviruses that infect dogs, cats, horses and other mammals. You can find TWiV #436 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 436 (71 MB .mp3, 98 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV!
Forget the fourth domain of life
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology, Commentary, Information
When giant viruses were discovered – with genomes much larger than any previously seen – some suggested that they had descended from a fourth domain of life (the current three are bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes). Part of the reason for such a claim was the finding of homologs of bacterial and eukaryotic genes, including molecules involved …
TWiV 435: Two virus particles walk into a cell
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
The TWiVome discuss the blood virome of 8,420 humans, and thoroughly geek out on a paper about the number of parental viruses in a plaque. You can find TWiV #435 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 435 (73 MB .mp3, 121 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV!
The purity of plaques
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology, Information
The plaque assay – my favorite assay in the world – is a time-honored procedure to determine the number of viruses in a sample, and to establish clonal virus stocks. The linear relationship between the number of infectious particles and the plaque count (illustrated; image credit) shows that one infectious particle is sufficient to initiate infection. Despite the …
David Tuller
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently…
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. ********** Julie Rehmeyer explores a friend’s death in New York Times’ Modern Love column It is hard to imagine having to cope with the aftermath of someone dying of suicide in your home. …
Trial By Error: Are Claims of “Recovery” from Psycho-Behavioral Interventions a Form of Bait-and-Switch ?
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. In a medical context, what does “recovery” mean? A pretty standard understanding is this one offered by The Free Dictionary: “a return to a normal or healthy condition.” If experts suggest a …
Trial By Error: Professor Chalder Downgrades Definition of “Recovery”
By David Tuller, DrPH President Trump’s words and actions are routinely mind-boggling but never surprising, given past experience. The same is true of papers co-authored by Trudie Chalder, King’s College London’s mathematically and factually challenged professor of cognitive behavior therapy. In a recent article, she holds true to form. In “Recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome: …
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Trial By Error: Claims Built on Fraudulent Trials Should Be Ignored
By David Tuller, DrPH When researchers cite fraudulent studies in support of their claims, it is best not to take anything they write at face value. That is certainly the case with a recent paper titled “Persistent physical symptoms not explained by structural abnormalities or disease processes: a primary care approach to promote recovery,” published …
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Trial By Error: Is Professor Crawley Retired from Bristol, or Isn’t She?
By David Tuller, DrPH Professor Esther Crawley, the methodologically and ethically challenged pediatrician and former grant queen at the University of Bristol, retired from medical practice and, apparently, from academia at some point in the recent past. So why does her name still appear on websites as if she were an active participant in research …
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Trial By Error: Norway Disability Case Exposes Flaws in Draft Guideline for “Long-Term Fatigue–including ME/CFS”
By David Tuller, DrPH A recent disability case in Norway provides a good example of why the draft of a new guideline for “long-term fatigue—including ME/CFS” is so problematic. As I reported last week, the draft guideline, produced by the Norwegian Directorate of Health*, generally favors the biopsychosocial approach. The guideline offers few specifics about …